


a pinch of sweetness

by cassandor



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Don’t copy to another site, F/M, Fluff, Late Night Conversations, Post-Canon, reduced age gap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-02-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 12:49:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22809151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cassandor/pseuds/cassandor
Summary: "I thought you were asleep."Fluffy, because it's a gift.
Relationships: Cassian Andor & Leia Organa, Cassian Andor/Leia Organa
Comments: 8
Kudos: 10





	a pinch of sweetness

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Pontmercyingtilthecowscomehome](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pontmercyingtilthecowscomehome/gifts).

"You're awake."

Cassian rolls to face Leia. She regards him with an open gaze, propped up by the pillow Cassian forfeited in favour of a straight spine and a restful Leia. The liquid brown of her eyes is rendered a deep grey by the hour of night - the warmth they hold, however, remains unfettered. 

Leia's response is a raspy hum. She stretches under the covers before shifting to mirror Cassian's posture.

"I thought you were asleep."

"Really?" Neither of them had good sleeping habits. Or sleeping habits at all, for that matter. Leia's tendency to doze off before Cassian was attributed only to the fact that his presence quelled her thoughts to an extent that just wasn't reciprocal for him. 

It was no fault of Leia's. There was no question the faint warmth of her beside him was soothing in a way nothing had been since he'd left his homeworld behind. While in Cassian's arms Leia could eventually relinquish her sorrows to the fog of darkness, his still lingered long into the night. Leia was a formidable woman who'd overcome great struggles, but every time he saw her drift into sleep Cassian was plagued by the need to watch over her. To protect her, as if he was still a spy-tuned-aide watching the Princess' every step on behalf of both her parents and their newborn rebel alliance. As if there was still a war waiting to greet them in the morning, instead of a steaming cup of caf.

A few breaths pass before Leia admits: "I was hoping." 

The covers rustle. Leia imagines Cassian's crossing his arms under the quilt. If he were standing, he might've propped his foot against a wall in the nonchalant way he does when something's intrigued him. It was a tell, something deadly for a spy, but it was a type of tell that only someone who'd spent a decade watching him and the latter part of that decade doing what they're doing now: 

whispering in the dark. 

"You were hoping I wouldn't notice you staring at me?" Cassian's voice swings upward with his eyebrows, a hint of sweetness that brings a smile to Leia's lips. She reaches out and gently cups the side of his face, brushing a lock of hair out of his eyes and unearthing a glint of humor in his eyes. 

"Oh, I gave up on that a long time ago," Leia replies, amusement colouring her tone. "I had someone try his best to teach me some things, but I don't think I'll ever out-spy you." She taps his cheek to an idle rhythm, the scruff of his beard tickling her fingers.

"I think he did a good job if you were watching me that long before I noticed."

Leia draws the outline of Cassian's cheekbones and tilts her head. "Mm. Not that long. Not as long as I'd like."

"Enjoy the view that much?" He asks her the question like he ribs her about her taste in clothes and cooking ability. Teasing. Though he's teasing her, she knows he's disparaging himself. Leia purses her lips.

"I'd enjoy it much more if I could see in the dark." She slings herself over him, positioning them so she's lying flat against Cassian's stomach. Leia threads a hand through the fringe of his hair, feeling its unfairly silky texture snag around her fingers as she toys with it. 

His voice is a rumble in her chest. "I can't believe you."

"What?" She strokes a thumb across his forehead, smoothing out the creases she knows are there without being able to see them. 

"Don't understand how you look at an old soldier like me and see a view."

"Cassian." His hands skim up her sleep shirt to rest at her waist. "We've been together for-"

"I know. I'm kidding."

"Are you now? Cassian Andor, cracking a joke? Where's the grumpy old man I know?" 

"It has been known to happen. I'm not that boring, am I?" Cassian's hands are moving, Leia realizes, sliding up her back to hold her close to his chest. 

"Maybe you are. I kind of like that about you," she says, resting her head against his shoulder. It shouldn't be a comfortable place to rest, but Leia finds it to be the most welcoming place in the galaxy. 

"Mm." A single syllable, gruff and soft at the same time. Leia would like to curl up and live in it for the rest of her life. She could. "What else do you like about me?"

Cassian's breath curls into her hair, soft and warm, his essence in one puff of air. From anyone else his question would be one for his ego. From his teasing tone Leia figures that's how Cassian's trying to sound. But she knows better.

Still, Leia keeps up the pretense of it and answers in a sing song voice. "Hmmm. I like your hair. It's soft. Unlike that beard."

"Don't like it?" Cassian rubs his jaw. "I thought you did." 

Leia shakes her head. "I like a little scruff."

"Oh?" His smirk insinuates something - someone - Leia doesn't want to be reminded of. Especially here, now, with him.

She flicks his nose.

"Not like that-" Cassian huffs. A laugh hiding under mock irritation. She grins.

"I like making you smile," she continues, earnestly this time. "Really smile. Those eyes of yours just light up like the night on Aldera." She burrows against his chest, seeking out his heartbeat. "You're adorable when you're confused. You're even more adorable when you pretend to be mad when you let me get away with something." 

"It's hard to refuse you, Princesa."

Leia smiles, lips pressed against the cloth of Cassian's sleep shirt. The only man in the galaxy who can get away with calling her that as a term of endearment. Not a jibe, not out of reverence, but a gentle reminder of what he'd said when they first met.

"I love how _boring_ you are sometimes. You and your organized toolkit and your perfectly folded clothing." It reminds her of how chaotic their lives had once been, how Cassian's rigid schedules and rules had been the only constant in her life. "Your eye for detail, your logical mind... I don't know where we'd be without it."

"So, you like me for my looks and my brains, uh?" 

Leia props herself up, lacing her hands under her chin so she has a better view of Cassian's face. He's gazing at her with an expression she's hesitant to name, as its meaning would be shattered should she try to constrain it with the shackles of language.

She shakes her head. 

"I love your hugs. I love how warm you are even though you're so kriffing cold all the time. I love how steady you are. Your faith that will always be people who will choose to fight for the right thing... I love how you're an optimist despite everything, under all those layers of pragmatism and.." she catches herself before saying the words _betrayal, suffering, loss._ This is not a night for those words. "Experience. Your devotion that's unquestioning and critical all at once." she sighs. "I love how rough and grumpy you pretend to be, even though you've got the softest, most feeling heart in the galaxy. And I love that the most. You're a good man, Cassian, and Papa saw it first. And I know I could love a man he trusted."

Leia hadn't expected so much to flow out of her at such a simple request. By the looks of it, Cassian hadn't either. 

"You're too kind."

"I'm just fishing for compliments." She rolls off of Cassian and props her head up on one arm. "Now, tell me what you like about me." 

"Ah. Hmmm." Their room is lighter, now, a brighter, hazier grey that hints at the dawn to come. In the rising light, Leia can see Cassian gazing at her in a way that unlocks something deep in Leia's chest, the polar opposite to the light frown dancing on his lips. He stays quiet but reaches out to brush a few locks of hair that had fallen out of her loose braid. His touch is gentle, almost hesitant, made so by disbelief: that Leia is here, with him. Her breath warms Cassian's hand as it lingers, not willing to pull her any closer nor let her go. She mirrors his silence, waiting for him to speak. 

"I am bad with words," he finally says.

"You and I both know that's not true." Leia sighs, lips brushing the edge of his thumb. "And you once said you weren't good with affection, either."

"I'm bad with words around you," he corrects himself. "When they're about you."

Leia smiles, and when she speaks her voice is as soft as the late falling snow on Fest. "Give it a try for me, Cassi." 

He looks at her, at the shadows hugging the curves of her lips and the arch of her brow. He could trace them with his eyes closed, he knows them that well. "I didn't know a person could be so fierce and so kind until I saw you. You had your father's kindness and your mother's boldness but none of their patience." He laughs, a soft, breathy sound Leia could mistake for a sigh. "But I liked you even then." 

"That loud, stubborn little girl impressed you?"

"It made her a good leader, once she learned the value of listening and being patient. A bold, kind, brave leader who wouldn't put up with injustice. A woman that anyone, everyone, fell in love with. But yes. The princess did. She smiled and loved as easily as she angered, and she made others do the same." 

"So it wasn't my skill at cooking, or sewing, or calligraphy that drew your eye. None of those... dainty curtsies or dresses did it for you?" Leia's smile grows with the sarcasm in her voice. 

"You're beautiful, Leia. Whether you were in a fancy gown or a muddy uniform. You're so beautiful now, here, like this." Cassian leans in, his fingers lacing under Leia's braids and holding her close. "Simple and sleepy and mischievous. Yes, I learned to love you for who you are as a person. A leader. A fighter. A figurehead. But most importantly, a good friend." The seriousness slips from his own features, allowing his lips to fall loose into something just shy of a smile. "Not for your cooking, unfortunately."

He's trying to teach her, in the quiet afternoons they've managed to claim for themselves. She's learned the names to all the spices stowed in their kitchen cupboard and has a grasp on chopping vegetables, but there was no way he'd leave her with an unattended pot or a tray in the oven. Leia leaves more ingredients on the counter than in the dish, yet somehow spilled salt made the experience more sweet. Leia had gotten very good at cleaning up, though. 

She sniffs. "At least being a bad cook made me appreciate you all the more. Oh, and being a terrible sewer. I think that was it."

"What?"

"When you showed up with that altered dress. I would've married you on the spot if I was of age."

"For knowing how to sew?" Cassian furrows his eyebrows. He remembers the dress she's talking about. It was blue, made of shimmersilk, with a long skirt that flowed like a river. It was beautiful, and worth more than everything Cassian had ever owned, but she never wore it because it didn't have pockets.

And shimmersilk was hard to stitch without causing irreversible ruin.

"No, silly, for spending time doing that for me based on a random complaint about pockets. And that was before I knew you were... you know. A spy for the rebellion. Now that I think about it, I can only wonder why you bothered. You had better things to be doing."

"You had a point. Training you to fight meant nothing if you couldn't easily access a weapon." Though she'd been taught to fight without one. And frankly, he thought heels were vibroblades of their own.

"Was that really it?" Leia asks, voicing his thoughts. "You wanted me to be safe? That's it?" 

He sighs and frees his hand from her hair. It's deep brown starts to show as colour returns to their world with the oncoming morning."You grinned when you saw it. Your mother had use her best negotiation skills just so you'd take it off for washing. I think that's when I knew."

"What?"

Cassian's chest rises, and for a moment Leia's afraid this will be another one of those things Cassian leaves buried inside for her to understand. Instead, he answers: "I was in love with your smile. And you. And I would do my best to keep you smiling. No matter what." He sighs, a real but dulled pain deep in his chest. "It took me years to admit it. And sometimes, I think I've failed."

Leia fishes for Cassian's hand under the sheets. When she finds it, she grasps it tightly and raises it to her heart. 

"You did it, Cassian. You do it every day. And I love you all the more for it."

Leia smiles just as the sun clears the horizon. Its rays reach Cassian's back first, enveloping his profile and mussed hair in a golden aura and sparing Leia from having to squint at him in the early morning light.

When Cassian returns her smile, she thinks it outshines the sun itself. 

"Caf?" he asks, their hands still intertwined. Leia nods. A long day waits ahead, and she doesn't suppose they'll ever get any shorter. "With sweetener?"

Leia shakes her head and leans in to softly press a kiss to his lips. "I've got some right here." 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this helps with that fic count goal! :)


End file.
